KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – More than 100,000 Taiwanese rallied Saturday to demand that the United Nations accept the island as a member, the most important step yet in the government-orchestrated campaign to emphasize its separation from mainland China.

The demonstration in the southern city of Kaohsiung gave ballast to President Chen Shui-bian’s pro-independence policies and defied threats from China. The two split amid civil war in 1949.

The rally was called to back a planned referendum on membership in the world body under the name Taiwan, rather than the official title of the Republic of China.

Taiwanese U.N. membership would still need approval by the Security Council, and with China opposed to the island’s entry under any name at all, it would almost certainly wield its veto.

Addressing a rally-ending event at a downtown plaza, Chen declared his love for Taiwan as the crowd applauded wildly: “I pay respect and appreciation to you all.”

It was a remarkable comeback for a man who only a year ago was written off as an embarrassment by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which feared that a series of corruption scandals involving his family and inner

circle would doom it to defeat in the upcoming presidential poll.

But now it is the main opposition Nationalist Party that seems to be caught off balance, torn between its support for eventual unification with the mainland, and its recognition that U.N. membership is a huge vote-getter with the Taiwanese public.

Reflecting the party’s dilemma, Nationalist presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou held his own pro-U.N. membership rally Saturday, attracting about 50,000 supporters to the central city of Taichung. But unlike the DPP rally 125 miles to the south, this one pushed for Taiwan’s U.N. re-entry under its official Republic of China name.

The distinction is crucial.

The Republic of China title indicates fealty to the “one China” concept, which has been at the heart of the communist mainland’s Taiwan policy since their split almost 60 years ago.

By contrast, use of the Taiwan name signals a strong bent toward independence – strongly favored by Chen, but so intensely opposed by China that is has vowed to attack if it ever becomes reality.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and insists it has no right to sovereign status. The government in Beijing has accused Chen of separatism.

The United States has also criticized the DPP U.N. effort, saying it could provoke a new instability in the perennially volatile Taiwan Strait, which separates the democratic, self-governing island from the mainland.

Chen has questioned the refusal of the U.S. to support its U.N. bid, saying in a speech Friday via video to an audience in New York that the U.S. seems more interested in improving relations with communist states like North Korea than in backing Taiwan.

On Saturday, scores of DPP referendum supporters gathered for a rally near U.N. headquarters in New York, waving green flags and holding signs reading “Don’t Let Taiwan Fight For Independence Alone” and “One Taiwan, One China.”

Chen dismantled a government body responsible for unification in 2006, has attacked the legacy of dictator and unification icon Chiang Kai-shek, and stricken the word China from the names of many government companies – replacing it with Taiwan.